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Israeli High Court considers use of flechette shells

Palestinian Center for Human Rights 15 April 2003


The Israeli High Court held a session on Sunday, 13 April 2003, to consider the case of the use of flechette anti-personnel shells by the Israeli army. PCHR and Physicians for Human Rights appealed to the court to issue a decision to absolutely prohibit the use of flechette shells by the Israeli army in its military operations. 

Parents of Tom Hurndall visit the site of his shooting

Tom Wallace 14 April 2003


“At 1:00 PM today Anthony and Jocelyn Hurndall made their way to Yebna, Rafah where their son Tom was shot on Friday, April 12, by an Israeli sniper. The entourage of two range rovers and a UN vehicle arrived at the ISM apartment where a throng of reporters and photographers awaited their arrival.” This update from Tom Wallace, International Solidarity Movement media contact in Beit Sahour, chronicles a family’s search for justice. 

Policing the academy

Joseph Massad 13 April 2003

Joseph Massad, in this contribution to EI, writes about an intense campaign by supporters of Israel against academics who criticize Israel and against academic freedom itself. While the pro-Israel lobby’s campaigns to discredit people who criticise Israel had decreased in relative terms after Oslo, they were revived after the failure of the Camp David talks and the eruption of the second Intifada. The lobby and its individual manifestations have become rabid in their campaigns of discrediting offenders to the point that they have become embarrassing to many Americans who support Israel. 

"Not again": Eyewitness Joe Smith writes about the shooting of Tom Hurndall

Joe Smith 12 April 2003


“[Tom and I] even had a conversation that day about the dangers of this place, and how none of us really understood them or we wouldn’t be here. I said that I still felt confident with my international status even after the recent violence against us. I believed that it was not a calculated targeting of internationals, just an increased amount of recklessness and hostility brought on by the increased effectiveness of our work. I said I wouldn’t really be intimidated until they openly target an obvious international. Not until they very intentionally kill one of us would I feel the terror experienced by Palestinians. Fate works in mysterious ways.” Joe Smith writes from Rafah about Israel’s shooting of Tom Hurndall. 

ISM Rafah: Statement on the shooting of Thomas Hurndall

12 April 2003


“Thomas Hurndall, a 21-year-old activist from London, UK […] was about to leave, when he noticed two small girls still in front of the roadblock and in the line of fire. He was moving to help them when an Israeli soldier in the tower, about 300 meters in front of him, shot a high calibre sniper bullet directly into his head. He was wearing an orange fluorescent jacket with reflective stripes, and was in full body view of the tower.” 

ISM: Israeli soldier shoots British ISM activist Tom Hurndall in Gaza

11 April 2003


Between 4:30 and 5:00 PM today Israeli snipers shot another ISM activist in the head. Tom Hurndall from Manchester Britain is currently in critical condition in an Israeli hospital. He is 22 years old. According to Laura, the activists were being shot at while protecting some children from Israeli gunfire. Tom was in plain view of the sniper towers and was wearing a bright orange fluorescent jacket with reflective stripes. The nine ISM activists and many children were in the process of leaving the area. Sniper fire from the tower was hitting the wall close beside the children, who were afraid to move. Tom was attempting to bring them to safety when he was shot. There was no shooting or resistance coming from the Palestinian side at all. 

Protecting Palestinian families in Rafah

Joe Smith 11 April 2003

“Yesterday was marked by what I call a “mini action”. We very loudly moved into a house in which we will now have a constant presence. It’s a four-story building in the Rafah neighborhood called Yebne, a refugee camp right on the Egyptian border victim to significant amounts of shooting and demolition. This house belongs to the Jaber family, and contains around 35 people, four families with loads of children. Its located right across from two Israeli security towers, and an area where an Israeli tank often sits.” ISM activist Joe Smith writes from Rafah. 

Sophisticated transfer

Tanya Reinhart 10 April 2003

While fears that Israel might use the war in Iraq as a cover to forcefully relocate Palestinians in the “seam line” area of the northern West Bank have not been realized, the Israeli army is rehearsing for such a “transfer.” Furthermore, Israel is escalating efforts to rob Palestinians of their lands in the occupied territories. Tanya Reinhart reports in Yediot Aharonot.